FBI seized phone with messages between jeweller, alleged Ryan Wedding drug ring, court documents show

There is a “preponderance of evidence” against a Toronto-area jeweller accused by United States prosecutors of laundering millions of dollars for a violent international drug-trafficking network allegedly run by former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, an Ontario judge said on Tuesday.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Peter Bawden was referring to information provided by U.S. officials against Rolan Sokolovski, who has been in jail since his arrest in November and faces extradition on charges of conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to distribute and export cocaine.

“There is a preponderance of evidence that implicates Mr. Sokolovski, at least to the extent of communicating with the Wedding organization and conducting transactions with the organization,” Justice Bawden said during Mr. Sokolovski’s bail hearing in Toronto.